Tuesday, July 27, 2010

New (Unsavory) Rules of the Recession

Companies are so desperate right now that the rules are changing in business. Things that were commonplace are now, unfortunately, not so common.

Today, it is becoming alright for a company to renege on its agreements. For example:

If your software company was promised a substantial amount of business from your customer, strap yourself in, your customer may just decide to bid out the last third of the work you were promised.

Let's say your company lost a bid to another company. Today, it's becoming common that your ideas and the ideas of the other losing suppliers, will be shared with the winning bidder in hopes of cherry picking the best ideas.

Why do these things happen? Desperation. The customer is pressured to look good internally in their company, to cut corners, etc. The supplier is desperate and doesn't want to rock the boat, so they feel compelled to suck it up.

No matter the economy, bad business is bad business. Whether we are suppliers or manufacturers, we have to have the guts to face these issues. If not, wait for the avalanche of inappropriate business practices to suffocate you.

Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
www.labov.com
LaBov Sales Channel
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